“So now everything's fine.” I uttered a hacking laugh. “No,” I said, in answer to a query from Aunt Dahlia. “I have not accidentally swallowed my tonsils, I was merely laughing hackingly. Ironical that the young blister should say that everything is fine, for at this very moment disaster stares us in the eyeball.”

(obsolete) The operation of working over the faces of rough or worn grindstones with a hack-hammer.

(obsolete, masonry) The separation of a course of stones into two smaller courses, when there are not enough large stones to form a single course.

(obsolete, gem-cutting) The cuts and grooves made in the metal laps by holding the cutting edge of a steel blade against them while in motion, for the purpose of providing receptacles or pockets for the powders using in cutting and polishing gems.